Fidelity Asian Values lifts dividend as annual total return improves
Fidelity Asian Values PLC on Friday proposed a dividend boost, after beating its benchmark in the financial year just ended.
The Surrey, England-based investor focused on Asia posted a net asset value per share of 604.69 pence at July 31, up 9.6% from 551.66p a year earlier.
NAV total return improved significantly in financial 2025 to 12.4% from 3.4% the previous year. The firm’s comparator, the MSCI All Countries Asia excluding Japan Small Cap index, had total return of 7.1%, down from 13.7% on-year.
Fidelity Asian proposed to boost its dividend by 41% to 20.5 pence per share, versus 14.5p in financial 2024.
The company’s shares down 1.8% at 581.45 pence on Friday morning in London.
The company said its top contributors were ‘well-diversified’, with the top three being Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, Australia’s De Grey Mining Ltd and Hong Kong-based Crystal International Group Ltd. Crystal is a clothing manufacturer for brands such as Fast Retailing Co Ltd’s Uniqlo.
Indian and Indonesian markets were behind the rest of the region, Fidelity Asian said, citing as its largest detractors India’s Axis Bank Ltd and IndusInd Bank Ltd, alongside Bank Negara Malaysia.
‘We do not have a forecast of market returns, and we do not wish to indulge in such speculation,’ commented Nitin Bajaj and Ajinkya Dhavale, the co-portfolio managers.
‘Instead, we continue to focus on investing in good businesses, led by competent and honest management teams, available at a valuation that offers a suitable margin of safety.’
‘This time-tested approach has delivered sustainable performance for the company over the long-term, and we are confident that it will continue to do so,’ they added.
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